Professionally and personally, these are the things I am most proud of.
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I've pulled in two Hermes Creative Awards for animation campaigns for Travelocity and the American Heart Association. The trophies are not made out of pure gold like I had hoped, but the bottom has felt on it so you can sit it on a nice shelf without worrying about scratches.
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In 8th grade I wanted to be on the track team, but hated running. The obvious solution was to try out for the pole vault. I never cleared the bar in practice, but by some miracle cleared 7.5', 8' and 8.5' to get third place at my first track meet. I never cleared the bar again--at a track meet or practice--but seeing the look of shock on my coach's face when he handed me my ribbon felt as good as what I assume clearing 9' feels like.
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After an extremely average high school baseball career, I turned to intramural sports in college in order to continue my quest for athletic mediocrity. During my junior year I out-slugged the campus to win the men's slow-pitch softball home run derby by hitting seven homers out of ten pitches. I am pretty sure that is some sort of school record.
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TPRA considered the annual report I designed for the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center to be "Best of Texas." I am still waiting to hear back if they thought it might have been the best of all time.
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This is my Houston Addy Citation of Excellence for a holiday animation I did for Armstrong Ceilings. This award is kind of like getting a pink participation ribbon after you get smoked in the 100-yard dash at field day. You'll take it, but you really wanted that blue ribbon.
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In 1988 I won the Dillard's Draw Your Mom contest. You are just going to have to believe me on this one because all I have to prove it is this hand written note from cashier Lorraine Fitzgerald. I can't believe my mom saved this.
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At the end of the school year my 8th grade mixed choir voted me the most valuable singer, or M-V-S as I call it. Sure, I campaigned like hell for the award, but that trophy is going to be with me in a box in the garage for my entire life, and nobody can take that away from me. Also, it has my name engraved on it which was a pretty big deal at the time.
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Animation World Magazine gave me some props for the Eco-Bunnies series dubbing it one of their "Web Toons You Need to See" for 2008. I wouldn't say they gave me "mad props," but a significant amount of props was still divvied.
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Over the summer of 2009 I competed in and won the Tournament of Flash Artists (TOFA) sponsored by Albinoblacksheep.com. Since the rest of the field of thirty or so animators were mostly comprised of teenagers, this excerpt from the Simpson's season eight episode "Homer's Enemy" sums up my sentiments:
CARL Way to go, (Jimmy)! LENNY You're number one, (Jimmy)! GRIMES But it, it was a contest for children! LENNY Yeah. And (Jimmy) beat their brains out! |
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I am a seven-year Movember Mo Bro, my company's team leader, and have helped raise thousands of dollars over the past six years. Growing a mustache is not as easy as it sounds, but I am proud to endure the itchy lip and awkward glances in the name of men's health.
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